Rajya Sabha polls: BJP fields Nitin Nabin from Bihar, announces 9 candidates

BJP President Nitin Nabin .

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday named nine candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha Polls. The party has fielded party president Nitin Nabin from Bihar.

The biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha to fill 37 seats from 10 states, including Tamil Nadu, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra, and Telangana, among others will be held on March 16, with counting of votes scheduled to be held the same day.

In Assam, the BJP has nominated Terash Gowalla and Jogen Mohan, while in Chhattisgarh it has named Laxmi Verma as its candidate. For Haryana, the party has selected Sanjay Bhatia. In Odisha, the BJP has nominated State unit chief Manmohan Samal along with Sujeet Kumar. From West Bengal, the party has fielded Rahul Sinha. The elections to the Rajya Sabha are due to be held on March 16.

In a related development, Nitin Nabin, on Monday asserted that the forthcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal would be crucial for ensuring the security and integrity of the region “as part of Indian territory.” He was addressing a traders’ meet in Siliguri.

Addressing the members of traders’ and businessmen’s associations, professionals, and prominent citizens at a city hotel, Mr Nabin mounted a sharp attack on the ruling Trinamul Congress (TMC), alleging administrative failure, corruption, and a deteriorating industrial climate in the state.

While announcing the polls dates, the Election Commission had directed that only integrated violet colour sketch pens of pre-fixed specification, provided by the Returning Officer, will be used for marking preferences on ballot papers.